THE rare and spectacular sight of a full rainbow arrived late yesterday afternoon in the Isle of Man over Onchan when the unpredictable Manx weather fluctuated wildly from bright sunshine to heavy downpour.

The rainbow appeared only for a few minutes over the Birchill and Farmhill areas of Onchan, with sharp bolts of autumn sunshine following immediately behind a downpour of rain.

For a brief few seconds the sky also showed the first signs of a secondary upper rainbow, which appears with its colours in reverse order. But it disappeared quickly into the dark autumnal clouds, leaving the single rainbow to slowly slip over the hills towards the Clypse and beyond.

A rainbow is caused when the sun reflects its rays against droplets of water in the air, normally in the aftermath of a heavy shower. On most occasions a rainbow will only be “half full”, reaching up into the clouds and disappearing, but it occasionally forms a complete semi circle, producing a spectacular sight.

Sir Isaac Newton was the man who originally identified the colours which all school children should know - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Rainbows are also commonly seen near waterfalls and fountains on a sunny day and is the photographer’s best option to take an image of the seven colours of the spectrum reflecting against the misty water droplets.

To take the photograph shown here, our photographer used a 10mm degree wide angle lens. It is accepted that it’s impossible to take a full rainbow without a lens of 19mm or less.

The weather forecast for the next few days is not dissimilar to yesterday’s strong winds, rain, sunshine and showers. It offers another opportunity for the Isle of Man’s photographers to capture the rare picture of a full rainbow.

If you take any images isleofman.com would be pleased to see them and publish the best pictures on our website. Send to newsroom@isleofman.com

Photograph: Bill Dale